The web has become borderline intolerable, and these things are among the reasons why. I've developed a "zero tolerance" habit. If a website throws up a surprise popup, I just immediately close the page and never go back. The only way to win is not to play.
Similar here but I take it a step further and drop their domains in ublock My Filters just in case I forget or some headline is just too tempting to click.
I click the reader mode button in Firefox, and if it doesn't render as simplly text with some images (sometimes it's just a stub, for example), then I bail.
The whole app situation reminded me the nightmares we had to face with browser toolbars that would get installed without our consent and would end up a mess!